Jason Howden is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, ...

and

visual effects artist The visual system comprises the sensory organ (the eye) and parts of the central nervous system (the retina containing photoreceptor cells, the optic nerve, the optic tract and the visual cortex) which gives organisms the sense of sight (the ...

Background

Howden was born and raised in

Greymouth Greymouth () ( Māori: ''Māwhera'') is the largest town in the West Coast region in the South Island of New Zealand, and the seat of the Grey District Council. The population of the whole Grey District is , which accounts for % of the West Coas ...

. He left high school at age 17 and started his career as a television cameraman and editor at a local television station in

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

. He began his directing career with his short film ''Automaton'' in 2005. Howden wrote and directed his debut feature ''

Deathgasm ''Deathgasm'' is a 2015 New Zealand independent comedy horror film written and directed by Jason Lei Howden in his directorial debut. The film premiered on 14 March 2015 at South by Southwest and was released in theaters later that year to posit ...

'' in 2014. The film won several awards at

Toronto After Dark Film Festival Toronto After Dark Film Festival is a showcase of horror, sci-fi Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced scie ...

and other international film festivals. Between 2017 and 2018, Howden wrote the feature film ''

Guns Akimbo ''Guns Akimbo'' is a 2019 action comedy film written and directed by Jason Lei Howden. It stars Daniel Radcliffe, Samara Weaving, Ned Dennehy, Natasha Liu Bordizzo, Grant Bowler, Edwin Wright, Rhys Darby, Milo Cawthorne, Richard Knowles, and M ...

'', and an adaptation of video game ''

Dead Island ''Dead Island'' is a 2011 action role-playing game developed by Techland and published by Deep Silver. Released for Linux, Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, the game is centered on the challenge of surviving a zombie-infeste ...

''. In 2019, he directed ''Guns Akimbo'', starring

Daniel Radcliffe Daniel Jacob Radcliffe (born 23 July 1989) is an English actor. He rose to fame at age twelve, when he began portraying Harry Potter in the film series of the same name; and has held various other film and theatre roles. Over his career, Rad ...

and

Samara Weaving Samara Weaving (born 23 February 1992) is an Australian actress and model. She began her career in her home country, playing Kirsten Mulroney on the drama series ''Out of the Blue'' (2008). She came to prominence with her portrayal of Indi Walk ...

, which premiered at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a perman ...

on 9 September 2019. The film was released in New Zealand on 5 March 2020 by

Madman Entertainment Madman Entertainment Pty. Ltd., also known as Madman Films, is an Australian distribution and rights management company headquartered in East Melbourne, Victoria, specialising in feature films, documentaries and television series across theatr ...

. In September 2022, Howden was set to direct an adaptation of Monsters of Metal, based on the comics he had written with Llexi Leon. The director was also attached as a co-writer along with Leon. Since 2001, Howden has been working as a visual effects artist on films. He has worked on visual effects in several Hollywood movies, including '' The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies'', '' The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug'', '' The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey'', '' Man of Steel'', ''

Gods of Egypt Ancient Egyptian deities are the gods and goddesses worshipped in ancient Egypt. The beliefs and rituals surrounding these gods formed the core of ancient Egyptian religion, which emerged sometime in prehistory. Deities represented natural f ...

'', and ''

War for the Planet of the Apes ''War for the Planet of the Apes'' is a 2017 American science fiction film directed by Matt Reeves from a screenplay by Reeves and Mark Bomback, and produced by Peter Chernin, Dylan Clark, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. It is the sequel to ''Da ...

'', among others.

Selected filmography

Director

* 2003 ''Parabiosis'' * 2005 ''Automaton'' * 2008 ''Veil'' * 2010 ''Melodies of the Heart'' * 2014 ''The Light Harvester'' * 2015 ''

'' * 2019 ''

Visual effects

* 2021 ''

Spiderhead ''Spiderhead'' is a 2022 American science fiction psychological thriller film directed by Joseph Kosinski, with a screenplay by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, based on the dystopian short story " Escape from Spiderhead" by George Saunders an ...

'' * 2021 '' The Beatles: Get Back'' * 2021 ''

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings ''Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings'' is a 2021 American superhero film based on Marvel Comics featuring the character Shang-Chi. Produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures, it is the 25th film ...

'' * 2021 '' Night Raiders'' * 2017 ''

'' * 2017 ''

Pork Pie A pork pie is a traditional English meat pie, usually served either at room temperature or cold (although often served hot in Yorkshire). It consists of a filling of roughly chopped pork and pork fat, surrounded by a layer of jellied pork stock ...

'' * 2016 ''

'' * 2014 ''

The Light Harvester ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...

'' * 2014 '' The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies'' * 2013 '' The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug'' * 2013 '' Romeo and Juliet: A Love Song'' * 2013 '' The Wolverine'' * 2013 '' Man of Steel'' * 2012 '' The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey'' * 2005 ''Automaton''

References

External links

* * New Zealand film directors Visual effects artists People from Wellington City Year of birth missing (living people) Living people {{film-director-stub